


he smelled intoxicating, hypnotizing

by ang3lba3



Series: 2k15-AU-a-thon [4]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: 2k15 au-a-thon, Alternate Universe - No Hale Fire, Angsty Schmoop, M/M, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-16
Updated: 2015-02-16
Packaged: 2018-03-13 07:38:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3373265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ang3lba3/pseuds/ang3lba3
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Derek was eight years old, and wanted to meet his soulmate more than anything in the world. Even though his Mom had explained that he wouldn’t know who or where his soulmate was until they needed each other most, Derek was worried that his soulmate might never need him. His soulmate was almost always happy, after all, his emotions a steady wave of hyper energy up until the moment he went to sleep. Then it was just a quiet pulse of contentment.</p>
            </blockquote>





	he smelled intoxicating, hypnotizing

**Author's Note:**

  * For [crossroadswrite](https://archiveofourown.org/users/crossroadswrite/gifts).



> ➥soulbonds that just appear once a requirement is met – so once both parties are a certain age, they are able to recognise their soulmate even if they’ve actually known each other for years au  
> ➥you can feel everything your soulmate feels, no matter where they are. It’s a constant pressure at the back of your mind. Can be inspiring, disheartening or… You know. Other things au
> 
> on tumblr at [this gorgeous blog ;)](ang3lba3.tumblr.com)

 

The first time Derek felt his soulmate, he was six years old.

 

He yelped at the strange intrusion on his thoughts, the sound of a fluttering heartbeat and a staggering sense of confusion.

 

“Laura!” he yelled. “Laura, Laura, Laura!”

 

Laura glanced at him, clearly exasperated. To be fair, Derek had been pestering his twin with silly requests and proposals to sillier games all day. “I don’t want to play Derek!”

 

“I can feel someone!” Derek said, tugging on her hand to press it up against his forehead, like then she might be able to feel it too. “Inside here, like Mom and Dad and Unca Peter and you!”

 

“What?” Laura said, wrinkling up her face in confusion.

 

“Mate! I have a _mate.”_ Derek said proudly, finally remembering the word. “And his heartbeat is really fast it’s like bah-dum-bah-dum-bah-dum.”

 

Laura’s eyes widened and she grabbed his hands as she shrieked happily, spinning with him in a circle. “Der has a mate! Der has a mate!” she chanted at the top of her lungs.

 

“I have a mate!” Derek yelled with her.

 

-

 

Derek was eight years old, and wanted to meet his soulmate more than anything in the world. Even though his Mom had explained that he wouldn’t know who or where his soulmate was until they needed each other most, Derek was worried that his soulmate might never need him. His soulmate was almost always happy, after all, his emotions a steady wave of hyper energy up until the moment he went to sleep. Then it was just a quiet pulse of contentment.

 

-

 

Derek was 11 when his soulmate had his first nightmare. He woke up to Laura slamming his door open, eyes gold as she growled at the invisible threat. She calmed down when she saw he wasn’t actually in pain, just a mess with a wet face and wet sheets.

 

“Are you okay?” she asked hesitantly, reaching out to soothe him.

 

“I don’t -” Derek said, shaking.

 

Laura sat down next to his head, maneuvering him until he was laying halfway on her lap.

 

“Mom says that when you turn five or six you start getting nightmares. Remember when my soulmate turned six, last year?” Laura said.

 

“Yeah.” Derek said, rubbing a hand over his eyes. On the other side of the bond, his soulmate was starting to calm down.

 

They stayed like that for a long time.

 

-

 

Derek was 15 when his soulmate started to become depressed and anxious and just a little bit paranoid.

 

It bled over into his daily life, making him more snappish and withdrawn, even with Laura. It got so bad that his Mom told him that they were going to a doctor, getting some meds to weaken the bond.

 

Alpha or not, Laura had to hold him back to keep him from ripping his mother’s face off. He broke down crying in her arms at a new wave of misery, and when his alpha tried to comfort him he cringed away from her touch.

 

No one suggested a doctor again.

 

-

 

Derek was in AP World History when the grief hit him.

 

It was like a freight train, and he couldn’t see or hear past it. He had no idea what his body was doing and he didn’t care.

 

The panic was slower to wind its way into his head, but just as overwhelming. The sound of his soulmate’s heart was so fast, too fast, faster than any heart should go, and Derek could feel his own speeding up to match it.

 

He was faintly aware of someone dragging him into their arms and commanding him to breathe with them, but it was so hard to think and breathing was something impossible, something only a superhero could have accomplished. And even if he had a Batman costume at home, he was hardly a superhero.

 

His soulmate didn’t calm, but Derek could hear his heartbeat slow down, and the muted thickness in the bond that meant unconsciousness. He’d never felt so helpless, but it was easier to think now, and he could tell it was Laura holding him.

 

Their classrooms were right next to each other, which meant she must have heard Derek’s heart go haywire and went to him.

 

“What’s going to be worse than this?” Derek finally gasped out, when he could breathe enough to talk. “What’s going to happen to them? To _me?”_

 

“I don’t know, little bro.” Laura said, stroking his hair. “I don’t know.”

 

-

 

He was 17, and he didn’t know how to say no without hurting her feelings.

 

Her name was Kate Hunter, and she was pretty, really pretty. She smelled like roses and she made Derek’s heart beat faster when she touched him, in a way he wasn’t completely certain was fear or arousal.

 

When she called him ‘baby’ and asked him out for coffee, his stomach flipped and he wanted to say no, say he had a soulmate, but she reassured him that it was just coffee and it didn’t mean anything. He was opening his mouth to say sure, fine, anything to make this conversation stop because his skin was crawling -

 

“YOU!” someone shouted, and Derek turned around to see a kid who couldn’t be older than twelve pointing at him and he _knew._

 

“Oh my god.” he breathed, frozen.

 

The boy - pale skin, covered in moles, cute little upturned nose - stalked forwards to Derek.

 

“You were about to go on a date!” the boy said accusingly.

 

“No it - it was just coffee, it wasn’t a _date.”_ Derek said, defending himself weakly. “I was just saying yes to make her go away.”

 

“Hey.” Kate said, sounding annoyed.

 

Everyone ignored her.

 

The boy scowled. “Well it’s a good thing I had the Call and came here, who knows what could have happened to you! She’s been a person of interest in at least 3 different murder investigations, you know.”

 

“Have not, you little brat!” Kate half shouted, taking a threatening step forward.

 

“Okay, maybe it was two, no need to get your panties in a twist.” the boy paused, looking confused. “What are panties? I asked Scott, but he didn’t know either.

 

“Also, why are you all sweaty? Where’s your shirt? Why are you in the middle of the woods with her she could be a murderer.” he said disapprovingly.

 

“I was jogging and so was she.” Derek said, ignoring the ‘murderer’ part. He knew that his soulmate was sometimes paranoid, and he could feel that hint of anxiety in him now.

 

“Derek.” Kate said, sugarsweet. His soulmate’s suspicion increased. “How about we all go and get coffee?” she smiled at Derek’s soulmate. “I know a coffee shop with the best hot chocolate ever.”

 

“I like hot chocolate.” Derek’s soulmate said, and Derek twitched. No preteen should have that amount of sharpened rage. “I like Derek more than _murderers_ though so we’re going to go now. Bye!”

 

The kid grabbed on to Derek’s hand and tugged him determinedly through the woods, chattering as they went.

 

“You’re one of the Hales right? Everyone knows who the Hales are. From your age you must be Derek. Hey, do you and Laura really have a telepathic bond? That’s what Lydia said she heard and Lydia is always right.” the boy said confidently.

 

“Where are we going?” Derek asked, and as he breathed in the wind shifted, blowing his soulmate’s scent into his face.

 

There were lots of things that smelled good (cherry poptarts, pine trees, cats) and some things that smelled great (Laura’s hair, his mom’s perfume, chocolate chip cookies), but the boy smelled like something intoxicating, hypnotizing.

 

“My dad is probably freaking out by now. He left me alone in his office and he’ll have noticed I’m gone by now. He’s probably already sent out a few cruisers to find me. Your house is this way right? I need to use your phone.”

 

“Yeah, it’s - how do you know which way my house is?”

 

“I know where everyone’s house is.” the boy said lightly, as if that wasn’t weird and slightly ominous. Derek really hoped that his soulmate wasn’t going to grow up to be a serial killer.

 

They reached Derek’s house in record time, the boy talking about fruit flies’ mating habits, then a detailed description of the history of embalming.

 

The boy ran through the front door as if he lived there, breezing past the front entrance and straight to the kitchen without stopping his description of how a corpse was made presentable for the viewing (stuffing cotton under eyelids to hide shriveled eyeballs, sewing lips into a peaceful expression and wiring jaws shut).

 

Derek’s mom was in the kitchen, staring at the boy with her hand up a turkey’s ass and a confused expression on her face.

 

“Hello Mrs. Hale!” he said, holding out a hand. “I’m Stiles, Derek’s soulmate. It’s great to meet you. Oh, you can’t shake, can you. Do you know where a phone is?”

 

“Derek has one.” his mom said, looking amused and pleased.

 

“Oh, and a 25 year old possible murderer was hitting on Derek, you guys should really watch out for her. She’s an Argent, and don’t they hunt werewolves?” Stiles said, zeroing in on Derek and shoving his hands in Derek’s pockets until he found a phone.

 

“How do you know about that?” Derek said, finally finding his voice.

 

“I’m magic.” Stiles said proudly, tongue sticking out in concentration as he tapped out a text. “My mom told me there was a family of werewolves and that when I grew up I could meet them. It wasn’t really hard to figure out from there. I mean, I wasn’t sure, but you’re all so-” Stiles made little fangs with his hand. _“-rawr,_ and you donate huge amounts to wolf sanctuaries that when you poke around a little seem to be providing sanctuary to more than wolves _if you know what I mean.”_ Stiles leaned forward with an exaggerated wink.

 

“I like him.” Laura announced from the doorway. Derek startled, not having noticed her come in  what with all his attention being focused on the little ball of energy in front of him.

  
“Yeah.” Derek said, grinning at Stiles, who was now providing suggestions of what they could do to be less ‘disgustingly obvious’. “Yeah, me too.”

**Author's Note:**

> on tumblr at [this gorgeous blog ;)](ang3lba3.tumblr.com)


End file.
